Education outcomes for looked after children 2017-2018

Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (Experimental Statistics)

• A lower proportion of looked after children achieve the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) level relevant to their stage compared with all children
• Achievement of CfE levels is highest for those looked after in foster care and with friends or relatives 
• Achievement of CfE levels is higher for children looked after for the full year than children looked after for part of the year.

This section presents data on the achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) levels for aspects of literacy (reading, writing, and listening and talking) and numeracy of the estimated 3,745 children and young people who were looked after at any point between 1 August 2017 to 31 July 2018, and who were in Primary 1, Primary 4, Primary 7 or Secondary 3 during the 2017/18 school year.

The achievement of CfE levels statistics are currently labelled “Experimental Statistics” as they are in the process of being developed and have been published to involve users and stakeholders in their development, and to build in quality and understanding at an early stage (see background notes for further information about these statistics). Achievement of CfE levels statistics for 2017/18 continue to be under development and are not directly comparable to the achievement of CfE levels statistics for 2016/17 published last year. For these reasons time series data are not available.

Scottish Candidate Numbers (SCNs) provided by local authorities in the Looked After Children data return in 2017/18 were used to match pupils to their CfE data, along with month and year of birth and gender. There is variation in the provision of SCNs for looked after children across local authorities, particularly for children at the earlier stages of school, ranging from 71% to 100% (see Table 6.1 in background notes and the Excel tables published alongside this publication). 

The average percentage of SCNs provided has increased from 90.9% to 94.3% for the local authorities that provided data for 2016/17 and 2017/18. This means that a higher proportion of the population of looked after children are represented in the figures when compared with previous years. This means that the figures presented in this chapter, should be a more accurate representation of the achievement of CfE levels by the whole population of looked after children (including those who could not be identified due to their SCN not being provided).

The data shows the CfE level achieved for each pupil within selected stages (P1, P4, P7 and S3 in mainstream schools and all pupils based in standalone special schools/units) in the following curriculum organisers: reading, writing, listening and talking and numeracy, and relates to the CfE level achieved as at June 2018.

Stage

Chart 4: Percentage of children achieving the CfE level relevant to their stage⁽¹⁾, by stage, 2017/18⁽²⁾

(1) See background notes for information regarding the CfE levels relevant to a pupil’s stage.

(2) Data is estimated by using 2016/17 figures for Glasgow City and 2017/18 figures for all other local authorities. All school leavers data is not affected,

Across all stages, a lower proportion of children who are looked after (for the full school year or for part of the year) achieved the CfE level relevant to their stage compared with all pupils (Chart 6). Generally, a slightly lower proportion of children who are looked after for part of the school year achieved the CfE level relevant to their stage compared with children who were looked after for the entire school year.

The proportion of children looked after for the full year achieving the CfE level relevant for their stage is generally highest for listening and talking, and lowest for writing across all primary stages, similar to the national picture. Similarly, the proportion of children looked after for the full year achieving the CfE level relevant for their stage falls throughout the primary stages, but increases when looking at the percentage of S3 pupils achieving CfE 3^rd level or better. The gap between full-year and part-year looked after children’s CfE achievement rates is present at S3. However, at primary stages, a higher proportion of children looked after for part of the year achieved the CfE level relevant to their stage than those looked after for the full year for most organisers. 

Type of accommodation

Achievement of CfE levels varies across the types of accommodation in which looked after children are placed.  Generally, a higher proportion of children looked after for the full year who lived with friends/relatives achieved the CfE level relevant to their stage, especially compared with children who were looked after at home (Table 5.1).

For children looked after for part of the year, generally the pattern is similar except that children with foster carers purchased by the local authority also had high rates of children achieving the relevant CfE levels (Table 5.2).

Table 3.1:  Percentage of Primary 1, Primary 4, Primary 7 and Secondary 3 children who were looked after for the full year achieving the CfE level relevant to their stage⁽¹⁾, by accommodation type, 2017/18⁽²⁾⁽⁵⁾

Accommodation type	Reading	Writing	Listening & Talking	Numeracy
In the community (children with one placement)
At home with parents	44	38	54	43
With friends or relatives	62	56	72	57
With foster carers provided by LA	59	54	67	57
With foster carers purchased by LA	56	50	62	53
In other community(3)	*	*	*	*
Residential Accommodation (children with one placement)
In local authority home	59	58	61	56
In voluntary home	*	*	*	*
In other residential(4)	57	52	57	65
More than one placement	58	51	62	53
All looked after full year	56	51	64	53

(1) See background notes for information regarding the CfE levels relevant to a pupil’s stage.

(2) Cells containing * represent small numbers that have been suppressed to maintain confidentiality.

(3) Includes with prospective adopters.

(4) Includes in voluntary home, residential school, secure care accommodation or crisis care.

(5) Data is estimated by using 2016/17 figures for Glasgow City and 2017/18 figures for all other local authorities.

Table 3.2:  Percentage of Primary 1, Primary 4, Primary 7 and Secondary 3 children who were looked after for part of the year achieving the CfE level relevant to their stage⁽¹⁾, by accommodation type, 2017/18⁽²⁾⁽⁵⁾

Accommodation type	Reading	Writing	Listening & Talking	Numeracy
In the community (children with one placement)
At home with parents	52	46	61	50
With friends or relatives	64	55	73	61
With foster carers provided by LA	54	48	71	53
With foster carers purchased by LA	71	68	71	64
In other community(3)	63	*	75	63
Residential Accommodation (children with one placement)
In local authority home	56	61	61	72
In voluntary home	*	*	*	*
In other residential(4)	*	*	*	*
More than one placement	64	57	70	59
All looked after part year	57	50	66	54

(1) See background notes for information regarding the CfE levels relevant to a pupil’s stage.

(2) Cells containing * represent small numbers that have been suppressed to maintain confidentiality.

(3) Includes with prospective adopters.

(4) Includes in voluntary home, residential school, secure care accommodation or crisis care.

(5) Data is estimated by using 2016/17 figures for Glasgow City and 2017/18 figures for all other local authorities.

Number of placements

The majority of children only experienced one placement during the school year 2017/18, with relatively few experiencing 3 or more placements. Taking this into account, tables 5.3 (children looked after for the full year) and 5.4 (children looked after for part of the year) broadly show a decrease in the percentage of children achieving the CfE level relevant to their stage when they had three or more placements during the school year. However, due to the small numbers of children experiencing more than one placement, care should be taken when interpreting these figures.

For children looked after for the full year, those with one and two placements had very similar proportions of children achieving the CfE level relevant to their stage. For children looked after for part of the year, a higher proportion of those with two placements achieved the CfE level relevant to their stage than the other placement number groups.

Table 3.3:  Percentage of Primary 1, Primary 4, Primary 7 and Secondary 3 children who were looked after for the full year achieving the CfE level relevant to their stage⁽¹⁾ by number of placements 2017/18⁽²⁾

Number of placements	Reading	Writing	Listening & Talking	Numeracy
1	56	50	65	53
2	59	50	62	54
3 or more	56	54	62	53
All looked after full year	56	51	64	53

(1) See background notes for information regarding the CfE levels relevant to a pupil’s stage.

(2) Data is estimated by using 2016/17 figures for Glasgow City and 2017/18 figures for all other local authorities.

Table 3.4:  Percentage of Primary 1, Primary 4, Primary 7 and Secondary 3 children who were looked after for part of the year achieving the CfE level relevant to their stage⁽¹⁾ by number of placements 2017/18⁽²⁾

Number of placements	Reading	Writing	Listening & Talking	Numeracy
1	56	49	65	54
2	66	62	73	65
3 or more	56	44	61	41
All looked after part year	57	50	66	54

(1) See background notes for information regarding the CfE levels relevant to a pupil’s stage.

(2) Data is estimated by using 2016/17 figures for Glasgow City and 2017/18 figures for all other local authorities.